World History Cold War PPT
Cody Reardon
Battle of Ideologies
• Communism vs. Capitalism
• The Cold War (1945-91) was one of perception where
neither side fully understood the intentions and
ambitions of the other. This led to mistrust and military
build-ups.
• United States
– U.S. thought that Soviet expansion would continue
and spread throughout the world.
– They saw the Soviet Union as a threat to their way of
life; especially after the Soviet Union gained control of
Eastern Europe.
Battle of Ideologies
• Soviet Union
– They felt that they had won World War II. They had
sacrificed the most (25 million vs. 300,000 total dead)
and deserved the “spoils of war.” They had lost land
after WWI because they left the winning side; now
they wanted to gain land because they had won.
– They wanted to economically raid Eastern Europe to
recoup their expenses during the war.
– They saw the U.S. as a threat to their way of life;
especially after the U.S. development of atomic
weapons.
The “Iron Curtain”
• Alarmed Americans viewed the Soviet occupation
of eastern European countries as part of a
communist expansion, which threatened to
extend to the rest of the world.
• In 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech at
Fulton College in Missouri in which he proclaimed
that an “Iron Curtain” had fallen across Europe.
• In March 1947, U.S. president Harry Truman
proclaimed the Truman Doctrine.
Policy of Containment
• Definition:
– By applying firm diplomatic, economic, and
military counter-pressure, the United States could
block Soviet aggression.
• Formulated by George F. Kennan as a way to stop
Soviet expansion without having to go to war.
– HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?????
• Ironically, the Soviets were looking for insulation
from the Capitalist West.
The Marshall Plan
• War damage and dislocation in Europe invited
Communist influence
• Economic aid to all European countries offered in
the European Recovery Program
• $17 billion to western Europe
• Soviets refused – The blame for dividing Europe
fell on the Soviet union, not the United States.
And the Marshall Plan proved crucial to Western
Europe’s economic recovery.
Berlin Crisis
• U.S., Britain, and France merged their zones in
1948 to create an independent West German
state.
• The Soviets responded by blockading land access
to Berlin. The U.S. began a massive airlift of
supplies that lasted almost a year. (7,000 tons a
day) In May 1949 Stalin lifted the blockade,
conceding that he could not prevent the creation
of West Germany.
• Thus, the creation of East and West Germany
The Creation of NATO
• Stalin’s aggressive actions accelerated the
American effort to use military means to
contain Soviet ambitions.
• The U.S. joined with Canada, Britain, France,
Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg to
establish NATO, a mutual defense pact in
1949.
• Pledged signers to treat an attack against one
as an attack against all.
• When West Germany joined NATO in 1955
Counter: The Warsaw Pact
Treaties that didn't’t help
•
•
•
•
•
Paris Peace Treaty 1947
Yalta Conference
Tehran Conference
NATO
Warsaw Treaty
Problems of the Atomic Age
• The most frightening aspect of the Cold War
was the constant threat of nuclear war.
– Russia detonated its first atom bomb in 1949.
– Truman ordered construction of the hydrogen
bomb.
• Call for buildup of conventional forces to
provide alternative to nuclear war
Nuclear Confrontation
• The Soviet army had at its command over 260
divisions.
• The United States, in contrast, had reduced its forces
by 1947 to little more than a single division.
– American military planners were forced to adopt a
nuclear strategy in face of the overwhelmingly
superiority of Soviet forces.
– They would deter any Soviet attack by setting in place
a devastating atomic counterattack.
• For the next quarter century, the U.S. and the USSR
would engage in a nuclear arms race that constantly
increased the destructive capability of both sides
The Fall of China
100,000 people walked 6,000 miles to escape
from the Nationalist Party.
During The Long March Mao Zedong became
the official leader of the party
– The Nationalist republic maintained control through 1949. They
improved transportation, provided a better education to more people,
and encouraged industry.
– However, peasants and workers lives were not improved
The Fall of China (contd.)
• In 1949 the Communist Party wins the civil
war.
• Mao declares China a communist state called
The People’s Republic of China.
• Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Party flee
to the island of Taiwan and establish The
Republic of China.
First Stage of Communism
1. Land was seized from the wealthy and given
to the peasants.
2. A five year plan brought all industry under
the government’s control.
3. Peasants combined their land to form
collective farms.
The Great Leap Forward
1. Collective Farms became huge communes—
25,000 peasants living together!
2. Poor production, droughts, and floods caused
one of the worst famines in history.
3. In two years 20 million people starved to
death
Cultural Revolution (Removing the
Competition)
1. To maintain control Chairman Mao launched
the Cultural Revolution to remove opposition
to the Communist Party.
2. The Cultural Revolution punished people who
spoke against communism or the government.
Artist were forced to create propaganda
supporting communism.
Korean War 1950-1953
• After WWII, Korea divided at 38th parallel: North was
communist, South was not
• Cause: 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea (supported by
Soviet resources)
• UN (led by US & Gen. Douglas MacArthur) sent forces to push
back communists
• Soviets boycotting UN for U.S. refusal to allow "Red China" into
UN Security Council
• China sends hundreds of thousands of troops to push back UN
• Result: cease-fire and border at 38th parallel restored; still in
existence today
Arab Nationalism
• Arab nationalists loosely united by opposition to colonialism
and migration of Jews to Palestine
• Balfour Declaration in 1917 indicated Britain favored
creation of Jewish “national home” in Palestine—opposed
by Saudi Arabia
• Great Britain announced its withdrawal from Palestine in
1948.
• United Nations voted for creation of two states, one Arab
and one Jewish
• Palestinians vowed to fight on until state of Israel destroyed
or until they established own independent Palestinian state;
led to several wars and numerous conflicts in late 20th
century
The Space Race
• I am better than you nana boo boo!
• Look up the following source and form an
argument to who won the space race
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/moon/timeli
ne/index.html
Cuban Missile Crisis
• Simulation of the Cuban Missile Crisis
• I will place you into teams after you read the
scenario for your nation
• Why is this a momentous event in the Cold
War.
Vietnam
• The Geneva Peace Accords, signed by France
and Vietnam in the summer of 1954, provided
for the temporary partition of Vietnam at the
17th parallel, with national elections in 1956
to reunify the country.
• In the North, a communist regime, supported
by the Soviet Union and the People's Republic
of China, set up its headquarters in Hanoi
under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh.
Vietnam
• The United States prevented the elections that
were promised under the Geneva conference
because it knew that the Communists would win.
• The North Vietnamese used classic Maoist
guerrilla tactics. “Guerrillas must move through
the peasants like fish through sea,” i.e., the
peasants will support them as much as they can
with shelter, food, weapons, storage, intelligence,
recruits.
Vietnam
• In early January 1973, the Nixon White House
convinced Saigon that they would not abandon
the South Vietnamese army if they signed the
peace accord.
• On January 23, therefore, the final draft was
initialed, ending open hostilities between the
United States and North Vietnam.
• The Paris Peace Agreement did not end the
conflict in Vietnam, however, as Saigon continued
to battle Communist forces.
German Reunifucation
• German nationalism slowly began to show in
the early 1800’s. Germany was divided into a
number of small states and desired a
unification within them. There goal was to
become completely independent out of the
control of all other nations as they had been
in the past.
Factors of Reunification
• National factors:
1. Dissatisfaction with socialism
2. The economic situation in the GDR
3. The majority of West-Germans wanted to be
reunited with the East Germans.
Detante
• Reasons
A split between the USSR and China
• China and the USSR became enemies since the mid-1960s
•Both of them feared being isolated and were keen to create better relations
with the US
The changes of American policy
•The defeat in the Vietnam War drove the US to adopt the non-commitment
policy in the 1970s
Detente
• Reasons (contd)
The fear of a nuclear war
• Both knew that war meant global destruction
• Led to arms limitations talks
The burden of military expenditure
•High costs of the arms race affected the development of the country
•Both the US and USSR wanted to use its own resources to develop its home
economy and to solve the problems of home poverty